I’m horrible at remembering to water my pots. This is probably why I’m into native gardening because they can tolerate the neglectful care I give. When gardening in pots it is much more important to keep up with a regular watering schedule and careful monitoring during the summer heat.
I have trouble keeping plants alive in pots over the winter. Pots left outside tend to dry out and crack. Bringing pots inside is a lot of work and sometimes brings in pests that infect my house plants. Outdoor pots can be buried either in the compost pile or with straw. I find the squirrels and rodents dig a lot at pots left out over the winter so I sometimes put a screen over the top of the pot to keep them out.
Due to the problems of winter die off and summer neglect I have had the best luck with just treating my pots as annuals and replanting them every year. Redoing pots each year can be expensive but when I need to I just remix the old potting soil with some new compost to freshen up the pot and then dig some of the perennials from my yard that are crowding or seeded into the wrong bed and voila, it’s free.
A container is a great place for the dry rock garden since it will get less water and has less weed competition. Rock pink, Phemeranthus calycinus, grows well in a pot because of the reduced competition. Rose verbena, Glandularia canadensis, MO evening primrose, Oenothera macrocarpa, and calamint, Clinopodium arkansanum, are all nice in the dry pot and gracefully drape over the edge.
Large pots with no drainage can be turned into a small water feature. A pot filled with water is a good place to grow wild canna, Thalia dealbata, or lizard’s tail, Saururus cernuus. To prevent mosquitoes growing in a water pot use a small solar bubbler, mosquito dunks, or fish. Larger rock gravel can be used to fill the pot so there is still enough space for water but not any water at the surface.
For the shade garden a pot could contain ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris as the tall center piece surrounded by Solomon’s seal, Polygonatum biflorum, Jacob’s ladder, Polemonium reptans, or Celandine poppy, Stylophorum diphyllum. For a fall pot try blue stem goldenrod, Solidago caesia.
I like to grow my vines in pots as a way to keep them under control. The vines would grow much more robustly if I set them free in the garden but I don’t have that much space so I want to keep them contained. There are many decorative trellis structures built to go in pots and as the vine grows up there is space at the base to grow other plants. Vines are able to escape from pots either through the holes in the bottom or by laying their tendrils on the ground and rooting in so monitor the pot closely or even better, bring it up on the porch.
Broken pots can still have a place in the garden. Attractive broken pieces make good decorations to place around the garden, bury the broken edges to make a little shelter for a toad or other garden visitor. Unattractive pieces can be placed in the bottom of other pots to provide drainage and help weight the pot so it is less likely to fall over.
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